Stitch Fix Expands to Menswear

Stitch Fix, the online personal styling and shopping platform, built its brand from catering to women. Now, it wants to broaden into menswear. For six years, the San Francisco startup has been using fit and style data algorithms alongside customer information to bring a digital personal shopping assistant to women, who, for a $20 per month fee, receive boxes of clothing and accessory items from retail brands and boutiques. The subscriber pays for what she keeps from her boxes, which are sent on-demand as frequently as she wants. Now, with a valuation of $300 million and investors including Baseline Ventures and Benchmark, Stitch Fix is rolling out the same service for men, starting with inventory from 50 brands.

Total Retail's Take: Some positive news on the subscription commerce front, which has endured its challenges in recent months. From Birchbox laying out staff to Fabletics’ customer service issues to Beachmint closing shop, the once-hot subscription model has fallen on hard times. Stitch Fix is diversifying its business in hopes that it can buck the recent trend. It's moving into a hot market, which can both be a blessing and a curse. By 2019, menswear is expected to reach $40 billion in worldwide sales. With that opportunity, however, comes competition, of which Stitch Fix will have plenty, including Trunk Club, Frank & Oak, among others.